can it be?" said Mr Denham to the captain when they first
observed the light on the horizon.

"A steamer, perhaps," replied the captain.

"No steamer ever spouted fire like that," said Bax, who was the only
other passenger on deck, all the others having gone to rest; "the
steamers on the American lakes and rivers do indeed spout sparks and
flames of fire like giant squibs, but then they burn wood. Ocean
steamers never flare up like that. I fear it is a ship on fire."

"Think you so? Steer straight for it, captain," said Mr Denham, whose
heart, under the influence of bad health, and, latterly, of considerable
experience in the matter of human suffering, had become a little softer
than it used to be.

The ship's course was altered, and long before the wreck was reached her
decks swarmed with men and women who had got up in haste at the first
mention of the word "fire"--some of them with a confused notion that
their own vessel was in danger!

It was indeed a novel and terribly interesting sight to most of those on
board the "Trident." At first they saw the burning vessel like a red
meteor rising on the waves and disappearing in the hollows; then the
flames grew fierce, and spread a halo round the doomed ship that shone
out vividly against the surrounding darkness. This latter was rendered
intensely deep by contrast with the light. Then the masts went over the
side, and a bright volume of sparks and scattered tongues of flame shot
up into, the sky, after which the hull shone like a glow-worm until they
drew quite near. The busy workers at the raft were too anxiously intent
on their occupation to observe the approach of the "Trident," whose
black hull was nearly invisible, and whose small lanterns might well
have been overlooked on such an occasion.

"They don't see us," observed Mr Denham.

This was abundantly evident. Within the circle of red light, they could
see the raft and the boats floating close to it; the men in cork-jackets
toiling in the water and on floating spars, with ropes, handspikes, and
axes. It was not until the "Trident" herself came within the circle of
light, and hove-to, with flapping sails, that the people in the boats
became aware of her presence.

Then, indeed, there arose a shout of joy such as could be uttered only
by men and women snatched suddenly and unexpectedly from the very jaws
of death. Again and again it burst forth, and was replied to by the
people in the "Trident," m